JZL: Hildegard of Bingen In 2009 year Margaretta von Trott, one of the few representatives of the new German cinema, famous for her love to make films about outstanding women of the past, released the film "Visions - from the life of Hildegard von Bingen", telling about the life of a German nun, abbess Hildegard Bingensky.
First of all, I would like to note the importance of the very fact of the existence of this picture, since no one has ever filmed the life of Hildegard before. But she was not just an outstanding Christian figure of the 12th century, but one of the first medieval authors of spiritual hymns, whose name has survived to this day. There is also Hildegard’s contribution to medicine and natural science. He is best known for his visions. In general, the personality is quite interesting (and in the world of music it was only talked about at the end of the 20th century) and therefore quite deserved a biopic, which was released in 2009, in fact.
However, with all due respect to the director, in my opinion, the film was not pressed.
The dramatic component is very weak, and therefore the conflict is either too weak or not covered at all. The theme with a vision could develop the storyline of Hildegard’s confrontation with representatives of the Church to a conflict that would resemble the sad story of Joan of Arc. But here the problem arises with the scale of the personalities of Hildegard and Jeanne. Alas, the director’s attempt to endow the heroine with the features of a modern feminist and human rights activist did not receive much development. And all my hopes to see the heroine as a composer who composed spiritual songs have failed.
Even technically, there were flaws. In particular, the operator Axel Block during the filming of the scene changed the angle from the far to the middle, and the director left it. Although it is customary to mount such things with other frames, so as not to look like a marriage.
In general, due to the slow storytelling, the film seems boring and long (although less than 2 hours). So this is not the best way to get acquainted with the biography of such an outstanding figure of the Middle Ages as Hildegard Bingen.
4 out of 10